As Ian stepped out of the alley and saw the scene outside, he finally realized where he was, because the harbor bore the city's marker and name.
Ancient Greece.
The region was not the capital of Ancient Greece.
It was—Rhodes Island.
Yes, there was a harbor, so it was naturally either by the sea or located on an island itself. Ian knew the name of this place too. It was an ancient place that had been destroyed, like Pompeii.
Yes, in the ancient history never mentioned in the Harry Potter series, there had once been an island that was one of the earliest cradles of magical civilization in Europe—Rhodes Island.
This mysterious place in the Aegean Sea had become a core region for wizard exchanges and magical research centuries before the Common Era. It was said that it was not only a gathering place for Greek wizards.
It was also an important place for wizards from Northern Europe, Egypt, and even the Middle East to exchange knowledge. At the time, Rhodes Island was hailed as the "Lighthouse of Magic," and a grand Magic Academy had been built on the island.
This place had nurtured the earliest theories of alchemy, the Divination System, and complex Ancient Runes Spells. Wizards studied Taboo Spells here, created powerful runes, and even attempted to communicate with deities in hopes of gaining power beyond mortals. Yet such a glorious holy land of magic had vanished from history overnight.
There were many differing accounts of its destruction.
Some ancient parchments recorded that, while trying to cast a forbidden spell, the wizards had accidentally triggered a magical storm, causing the island's energy core to lose control and explode. This disaster not only destroyed Rhodes Island itself, but also caused temporary magical disturbances in the sea for hundreds of